Birds were singing pretty loud outside the tilted window and he opened his eyes slowly. A golden ocean stretched till the horizon and a he inhaled a sweet scent.
'My love…' He whispered and hugged her closer. Their bare skin was touching and memories of the night floated his head. There were no words that could describe how much it meant to him. She was the one, after that night, he was absolutely sure no other woman would ever take control over his mind like this. He leaned on his elbow to take a look at her peaceful sleeping face. Such beauty, he would have never imagined any woman could seem that outrageous to him. The sun gently caressed her cheeks and he knew it was time for him to go back to his room. A painful goodbye he wished to postpone but the sound of the coffee machine pushed him out of the bed. He put his boxers on and kissed her with affection, then whispered 'I need to go love'. She only opened one eye slightly and smiled gently.
'I'll see you at breakfast mister.'
'See you later…' He smiled and grabbed the door handle as he heard her calling his name once more. 'What is it?'
'Tonight. That was special. Very much. Thank you.' She looked at him, covering herself with the duvet.
'Thank you too lovely. Have some more sleep. ' He left the room and quietly walked to his own, then put on some cloths and walked to the kitchen where his mother was sipping coffee. He wasn't sure if she was really the perfect person to talk to that time of the day, while his head was still full of butterflies.
'Morning.' He mumbled as lazy as he could not to show her that for the first time in years he was bursting with energy.
'Morning. Have a seat Shikamaru.' She also seemed to hide her emotions from him.
'Sure…' He turned the coffee machine on once more and sat down opposite to his mother.
'How serious are you about this girl?'
'Mom…'
'Just answer the questions.'
'Very serious.' He looked her straight into the eyes being more than convinced of his words.
'Would you want to marry her?'
'It's rather too early to talk about this kind of things…'
'Would you?'
'I think so.'
'Good. I'm relieved then.'
'Why were you asking?'
'I'm old-fashioned – I know that son. ' She sighed. 'I'm not stupid either. I knew that you probably would be no saint as soon as you would leave home…'
'What are you driving at?'
'I know you weren't sleeping in your bed last night. Your father stopped me from destroying your little rendezvous. '
Shikamaru remained silent because he had no idea how his mother would react and there was nothing that would telegraph her feelings.
'But as a mother I was terrified that you might waste your life on the wrong girl. Because if you would get a child with her…'
'Mother I know a few things about contraception.'
'Contraception may fail son. If that would be the case I would never let you turn your back on your own child. I would force you to marry the girl and ruin your life completely.'
'Mother…'
'But when you are at this time ready to say yes to this clever girl…I'm slightly relieved. Things may change with time but her…I would be delighted is she was my daughter in law. She can make you happy. I just wanted you to know that.'
'Thank you?' He looked heavily surprised.
'I just wanted you to know.' She sipped her coffee and looked out of the window. 'And if you want to…If Temari is ok with this you might as well sleep in your room. There is no point in this childish game.'
'I'll talk to her.' He sighed but never felt this relieved before. In the end this wasn't that bad as he would have expected and what was more, he really started believing in a bright future with his beloved blonde.